Why did I start reading it?
Learning that the cute girl on the cover is actually the protagonist of the story and this review from Sean Gaffney sealed the deal for me.
What is it?
A light-hearted fantasy; our main character Azusa was a Japanese wage slave who literally worked herself to death. An angel took pity on her and allowed her one wish for her next life. She chose to be immortal so she could take all the time in the world to relax in her next life. After 300 years of her chilled out fantasy life of killing slimes every day for some income Azusa has managed to max out her level and is now super powerful and word has gotten out. Much to her dismay, her peaceful life may be hard to maintain when trouble keeps knocking politely at the door.
What are the characters like?
The small cast that builds up through the novel are all pretty cute and have their own unique personalities.
Anyone particularly cool?
This is hard to decide. I loved all of them. I suppose I should mention Azusa first because she does a great job of holding the book together all by herself which is surprising for a character who's sole motivation is to avoid trouble and chill out. She's a good person when it comes down to it. If something is happening right in front of her she'll do something about it but she's not a protagonist in who's about to go out of her way for adventure any time soon. As much as I loved every character in this pic above, plus one who I won't mention for spoilers, Halkara was a character I found fun to read about. I loved this walking disaster elf. She was more comic relief than anything but she was such a contrast to the others that she brought a bit of life to the book.
What's the bad news?
The only bad thing I saw was it was very awkward at times. It's obvious that these are female characters written by a male author. There are times when he just wants to write about Halkara's bust, this elf's character her fan service figure in the first few chapters she was in. In a silly anime kind of way, Azusa draws attention to her breasts originally due to jealousy but then the book starts finding any and every reason to bring them up again which considering this is from Azusa's point of view and the book has tried to establish her as straight it comes off really awkward and out of character. (I'll let it pass if the end game is her realising she's bi/lesbian lol. Halkara already announced herself as 'Heteroflexible' so why not.)
And the good news?
Specifically, I love the names in this book. Laika, Falfa, Shalsha, Halkara. I don't know what it is about those names but they just sound so nice out loud and in my head and really make this world feel fantasy. Other LN fantasies I've read either have very strange names when you put them in English like 'Rag' which over makes me think of the character like I would a dirty cloth or western names that we are used to like 'Heath' which, admittedly this book does too but mainly for side characters. Other than the names, I just liked being led on this chilled out story about looking after yourself but still opening up to others. The story just had a lot of heart and is a great read to escape stressful times. Even in the afterward, the author says he'd be happy for you to use it as 'your recovery item' and I have Morita-sensei, it was a very effecrive recovery item indeed. I look forward to reading more of this adventure.
Would you recommend?
If you're looking for a chilled out fantasy with cute characters and silly action look no further. I've been killing Slimes is here to be your recovery item after a long day.
The closest I think I've read to this in the past was Walking My Second Path In Life which was also a light fantasy I enjoyed to get away from the world. Read my review here.